Lag Putting Distance Issues

[iacas]

16 minutes ago, DaveLeeNC said:

I don't know if I am accelerating too much or not (something to pay attention to on this journey). But this reminds me of something that I tried some years ago (briefly so not really a fair trial). And that was to make my putting stroke "purely pendulum". This I means I felt no head weight at all during the downstroke and my hands just "followed the clubhead" as it fell toward the ball. Doing this successfully was really seductive WRT how it felt. At least on the course it ended up being kind of manipulative and ineffective.

 

That's not the way to do it. Most people who accelerate through impact have;

• too short a backswing
• too slow a backswing

They take the putter back too slowly, so then it takes a long time, so they cut it off before it gets back to the distance it needs. I recommend taking a faster backswing and then matching the length of the follow-through, at whatever tempo works for you.

 

Start by taking a fast 3' long backswing and then learning to hit the ball only about eight feet. Then dial that back. Your follow-through should finish — without hard braking — a little shorter than the backswing length.

 

You can practice this by marking up an alignment stick.

[baudi]

Take a ball of steel (training aid eye line).  The bal is 5 times heavier. It will shorten the practice distance by appr. a factor 5 but will teach an efficient stroke and new visual awareness.   

[DaveLeeNC]

14 hours ago, baudi said:

Take a ball of steel (training aid eye line).  The bal is 5 times heavier. It will shorten the practice distance by appr. a factor 5 but will teach an efficient stroke and new visual awareness.   

 

It took me a bit to figure out how to read this post. But "Ball of Steel" refers to this - https://eyelinegolf.com/products/ball-of-steel?srsltid=AfmBOoqKplm_qBCTFXIc9lAjElC_4aImGgsSYrWqv4FCq4oCjA6C2kTL

 

It seems (per their marketing) to be focused on creating centered contact. But maybe it brings other values to the table as well.

 

dave

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, DaveLeeNC said:

It took me a bit to figure out how to read this post. But "Ball of Steel" refers to this - https://eyelinegolf.com/products/ball-of-steel?srsltid=AfmBOoqKplm_qBCTFXIc9lAjElC_4aImGgsSYrWqv4FCq4oCjA6C2kTL

 

It seems (per their marketing) to be focused on creating centered contact. But maybe it brings other values to the table as well.

 

I'd avoid that like the plague if I were you. It's a bad training aid among a sea of bad training aids. In your case it would encourage accelerating in anticipation of the super heavy golf ball. It may be good for teaching centered contact, but there are other methods to do that while not also encouraging other bad things to develop.

[ChaosTheory]

I've greatly improved my lag putting in recent years.   From a teacher in the Chicago area named Ben Mutz, I learned a system that is pretty similar to what Bryson does.  Instead of tracking the putter head like Bryson, this method tracks the right hand vs various parts on the body below the belt.  It's probably more intuitive than tracking the putter head.  I use the palm of the right hand as my indicator.  He teaches a stance that looks like Nicklaus, with the ball forward.  It actually works great.  I would say it is for smoother strokes, not for quick hitters.

 

When I get to a practice green, I calibrate at 15 and 30 feet.    It only takes a few putts. 

 

I have found that equipment matters a lot.  Maybe because I'm making a smooth stroke.   The right balance and the right shaft flex really help me make a good transition, which makes a better stroke.  Which makes it much easier to hit the reference point in rhythm.

 

I know a lot of people (good putters) will roll their eyes at all that.  Good for you!  No, really!  If I was a great putter, I wouldn't have had to learn such a system.  I have hands of stone.  🙂

 

Now, people think I'm a good putter.  I guess I think so too.  But I'm like Bryson in that I needed a system to make it happen.

 

[ballzo]

On 4/21/2025 at 9:22 AM, TonyRo said:

Go to an actual putting green, set up 30/40/50 foot putts, even if it's just 15 minutes before your round. See how long your backswing needs to be at your normal stroke tempo to get the ball there. Then gamify it and test yourself by randomly picking those targets and trying to get it within 6 feet. Putts greater than 30 feet are a pretty big scoring differentiator, I've heard. 😁

This ^^^

I do this before my rounds if have the time its about all I do pre round so when I come up with these putts during the round and get these distances I don't have to think much. If they are slightly different distances, I can modify the length of my stroke just slightly to accommodate. Agreed, if you can 2 putt in 98% of these scenarios scoring is much improved.

[ballzo]

7 minutes ago, ChaosTheory said:

I've greatly improved my lag putting in recent years.   From a teacher in the Chicago area named Ben Mutz, I learned a system that is pretty similar to what Bryson does.  Instead of tracking the putter head like Bryson, this method tracks the right hand vs various parts on the body below the belt.  It's probably more intuitive than tracking the putter head.  I use the palm of the right hand as my indicator.  He teaches a stance that looks like Nicklaus, with the ball forward.  It actually works great.  I would say it is for smoother strokes, not for quick hitters.

 

When I get to a practice green, I calibrate at 15 and 30 feet.    It only takes a few putts. 

 

I have found that equipment matters a lot.  Maybe because I'm making a smooth stroke.   The right balance and the right shaft flex really help me make a good transition, which makes a better stroke.  Which makes it much easier to hit the reference point in rhythm.

 

I know a lot of people (good putters) will roll their eyes at all that.  Good for you!  No, really!  If I was a great putter, I wouldn't have had to learn such a system.  I have hands of stone.  🙂

 

Now, people think I'm a good putter.  I guess I think so too.  But I'm like Bryson in that I needed a system to make it happen.

 

I do a combo of this for shorter putts I us the putter head as my measure, on the longer stuff I like you switch to my right hand and also use my right pocket as a measure. Right hand to the pocket, just past the pocket etc....

[DaveLeeNC]

1 hour ago, ChaosTheory said:

Instead of tracking the putter head like Bryson, this method tracks the right hand vs various parts on the body below the belt.  It's probably more intuitive than tracking the putter head.  I use the palm of the right hand as my indicator.

 

1 hour ago, ballzo said:

I do a combo of this for shorter putts I us the putter head as my measure, on the longer stuff I like you switch to my right hand and also use my right pocket as a measure. Right hand to the pocket, just past the pocket etc....

 

This morning I tried some calibration stuff against the putterhead and a yardstick - I didn't like how if forced me to take my vision away from the ball on the BS. But this concept deserves a try in my case.

 

dave

[iacas]

Post a few videos of some 40 footers.

[baudi]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd avoid that like the plague if I were you. It's a bad training aid among a sea of bad training aids. In your case it would encourage accelerating in anticipation of the super heavy golf ball. It may be good for teaching centered contact, but there are other methods to do that while not also encouraging other bad things to develop.

So IACAS doesn't use this aid but he sure knows this aid will encourage acceleration for any player…?!

Basically what IACAS describes and promotes, is the exact opposite of how to use this aid.

 It's a ball, NOT A HITTING BAG.  

 

More/over accelerating of the stroke is absolutely not how to roll this ball. The aid is supposed to cover accurate distances with a very tight tolerance at a short range with a normal stroke yet different impulse. And that works great.

Eg. learn to cover exactly 4ft 6ft 8ft -set it up indoors with a tee.  Tune your stroke to a tight tolerance. Find your stimp at home  and recalculate to the distance for your home course. Good luck! 

 

 

[otto6457]

5 hours ago, iacas said:

Post a few videos of some 40 footers.

 

Love this.  In the 20 years I've been a member at my course, I have only rarely seen anyone video their putting strokes, or even their set-ups.  It really feels like low hanging fruit,  I do it a couple of times a season to see if my set up has gotten weird or I'm on a bad putting streak.  

 

But if you look across the fence to the Texas Tech players practice greens, they use video and capto pretty regularly.

[Yrrdead]

One thing that has significantly improved my lag putting was implementing a set distance***. In my specific case I use my putter grip length.

 

Since you have a backyard putting green;

 

1. Grab a bunch of balls and head to your flattest, straightest section (if you green is flat , perfect)

2. Put a start marker and another marker the distance of your putter grip.

     a. That sets your backswing length

3. Hit a bunch of balls where you try to have the same "tempo" with that backswing length

4. Measure how many paces you are hitting on average.

5. Now you have a 1 set distance. (You can dial in more just like a wedge matrix)

6. To calibrate before a round just head to the practice green , set up your station and hit a few putts to gauge how many paces those particular greens are. 

 

 

To address your second point about longer lag putts (> 40ft), just use your normal chipping grip instead of your putting grip.

 

*** All credit for this goes to the Sweet Spot podcast that featured a putting coach who talked about implementing this. Can't recall the coach's name.

 

[ballzo]

On 4/23/2025 at 10:35 AM, DaveLeeNC said:

 

 

This morning I tried some calibration stuff against the putterhead and a yardstick - I didn't like how if forced me to take my vision away from the ball on the BS. But this concept deserves a try in my case.

 

dave

It can I think I started out like that too but eventually it becomes as in my case just something I see out of the corner of my right eye on the shorter putts and in the case of the longer putts and using my pocket, its not a visual for me but a feeling. The reason I switch to using the pocket is because I have no more visual queues left to use on the ground when going back that far. Nothing wrong with practicing with a yard stick but thats not what I do. I use just my feet to measure. To me this seems better as I can't take the yardstick out to play obviously. Stick with it for a few rounds at least and see how it works. Good luck.

Edited April 24 by ballzo

[Peter_b]

On 4/21/2025 at 3:49 PM, rsballer10 said:

For me, speed control comes down to taking the trail hand out of the release 100%. I've spent years trying to master the 'release' or 'gated' stroke as best as I can, but that trail hand will always add some interference to my stroke.

 

Super interesting. As a surgeon I always thought I need my right hand in this at all cost but I am starting to fee the same way. Question is how small grained the resolution of putting is. I think it is less precise than we think?

[DaveLeeNC]

OP on this thread, here. 

 

Recently I started to focus VERY STRICTLY on zero wrist movement and (secondarily) a strictly rocking motion to power the putter.  This is (it seems) improving my lag distance results (as well as my ability to start the ball online). Unfortunately my on course results have been interrupted by a minor hamstring injury, but that is my definite sense of things at this point.

 

BTW, if a month ago you had asked me if I had any wrist motion in my putting I would have said no. I would have been wrong. The physical difference is really small, BTW. 

 

dave

Edited July 30 by DaveLeeNC

[iacas]

A lot of people set up with a shaft vertical and thus 3-4° of loft on their putters at setup.

 

If they can't move their wrists, how do they expect to deliver 1-2° of loft at impact? Are they going to lean their whole body forward or something?

 

Some people need a little wrist motion. Some people don't*. More fall into the former category, even if they seek to return it (in passing) at impact to roughly where it was at setup.

 

When you toss a ball to someone, you don't do it with stiff wrists.

 

* Arm lock putters might make up the bulk of this group.

[DaveLeeNC]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

A lot of people set up with a shaft vertical and thus 3-4° of loft on their putters at setup.

 

If they can't move their wrists, how do they expect to deliver 1-2° of loft at impact? Are they going to lean their whole body forward or something?

 

Some people need a little wrist motion. Some people don't*. More fall into the former category, even if they seek to return it (in passing) at impact to roughly where it was at setup.

 

When you toss a ball to someone, you don't do it with stiff wrists.

 

* Arm lock putters might make up the bulk of this group.

I would guess that 99% of the golfers out there have ZERO expectation of a specific loft at impact. 

 

But I had not considered this. I putt left hand low with a slight forward shaft lean at address (such that the putter shaft tends to point up my lead forearm). Maybe this improvement that I am feeling is related to a more optimum effective loft at impact. 

 

dave

[BTE0816]

I have been having major lag putting issues as well. I have been working on contact using a whygolf putting thing and going to the course 2-3 times a week to work on 30-50' putts. Its funny how much impact actually practicing has had for me.

[platgof]

The best putting advice I received was on this forum and mentioned taking the putter further back than usual. I didn't like the idea but tried it, and found out that in the forward swing, I could add a little more that I thought I needed, and has helped a lot with lag putting. My tempo has now improved a lot. thanks guys.

[Wardonation]

On 4/21/2025 at 7:23 AM, Wardonation said:

Are you putting with a LAB putter by chance?

no long neck jailbird